His Nanny Mate (Moana and Edrick Morgan) novel Chapter 76

#Chapter 76: Temper

Edrick

The next day after our minor argument, I was happy to see that Moana took me up on my offer and decided to take the day off. I insisted that she let the driver take her wherever she wanted to go. She left in a bit of a huff, holding her belly through her summer dress in the elevator, but as the door closed, I knew that she would come home feeling much better later. In the future, I told myself that I would make sure she had more time off; this much stress was only bad for the baby, so if she needed any time to rest and relax, then I would allow it.

However, Moana was late coming home that night. I began to get a little worried when she wasn’t even home in time for dinner, and found myself involuntarily looking out the window every five minutes to see if she was coming.

Finally, just as I was about to call her, I saw the car pull up out front and let out a sigh of relief. I watched as she walked into the building, then waited for her to take the elevator up. When the doors finally slid open and she walked into the foyer, she immediately met my gaze.

“You were out late,” I said. “I was about to call you.”

She shrugged. “It’s my day off. I’m an adult, so you don’t need to worry about me.”

For the second day in a row, Moana was being sarcastic and cold toward me. What did I do to piss her off so much like this? Frowning, I folded my arms across my chest. “I’m allowed to wonder where the mother of my baby is past dark in this big city,” I said.

Moana merely scoffed. “I was only at the orphanage,” she replied. “Besides, why do you care? It’s not your baby, right? Just some other man’s mistake?”

“So that’s what this is about?” I asked, splaying my hands out with my palms up, feeling incredulous. “You eavesdropped on my conversation with my mother?”

Moana rolled her eyes and began to storm off toward her room, but I wasn’t having it. After all of the waiting and worrying about her all night, I had finally had enough. I had been so understanding, and even gave her an extra day off! Before she could storm away, I quickly ran up to her and put myself between her and the doorway.

“Don’t just run away,” I insisted. “Have a real conversation with me.”

She waved her hand dismissively. I noticed that she didn’t seem to even want to look at me, and now she turned around to storm off in the other direction, toward the kitchen. “It’s completely unimportant,” she said. I followed her and watched as she walked to the fridge, opened it, then took out a pitcher of iced tea and poured herself a glass. Her hands seemed to be shaking.